The HubPages Insider

I got lucky in that I started at HubPages right when the site was first beginning. I actually joined while it was still in the beta phase, which means the site was up and running, but was still being seriously developed and debugged. I was the 227th person to join the site. It was still a few months before HubPages was ready to open the membership to the general web audience. A lot of what exists on HubPages today wasn't here yet.

For new HubPages authors, the whole process can often seem overwhelming. For those that have figured out the basics, they feel that they can't get going fast enough. And for some who've been here for a little bit, they wish they could get better at what they are doing. This Hub has been created to help address all of those concerns.

One thing which didn't exist when HubPages first started out was the forums. They didn't debut until the site was about a year old. That meant if you had a question, there was no place to ask except for emailing the Hub team. Much as they are today, the team is a lean, mean, admin machine and they have to split their time between helping users and keeping the site running.

Often the best and fastest way to get an answer was to read the pages that HubPages had put up explaining how they work. A lot of people seem sort of lazy and want someone to hand them the answers, but I really feel that understanding how the site works and the rules that govern it is the best way to get to be a top-notch Hub author. I feel I can look up an answer in the FAQ or help guides much faster than the time it takes to post a question and then wait for an answer. One of the other big benefits of being able to look up your own info is that you don't get wrong or misleading information from the FAQ the way you do from a group of fellow users, many of whom are unclear on the rules.

Whether you are brand-new or an old-hand, you should read over and familiarize yourself with the three links listed to the right.  These links are the best places to get the most accurate information about HubPages with the least waiting around for someone to answer you.

Certain things come up in the forums over and over and over and over and over... (you get the idea.) Here are some suggestions for having a better forum experience.

When you go to post a new thread or reply in the forums, a helpful message pops up next to where you are typing.  It reads

"Please note that advertising and promotional posts in the forums will be deleted and may result in the closing of your HubPages account. Do not start threads for the sole purpose of promotion or posting links. Please use the Forums in the spirit of community! forum rules

Please check the HubPages FAQ before asking HubPages related questions in the forum."

• If you are brand-new to the HubPages forum, here's a fantastic introduction and index, created by the community moderator Maddie. She's super helpful, and so is her post.
• There are different forum sections for various topics. It makes things more organized if you put your question or post in an appropriate section. Take a moment to read down the topics before you start.
• If you happen to post at a time when not a lot of users are on, you may not get an answer right away. Making multiple threads is a HubPages forum no-no.
• Don't respond to spam posts. There's a button which reads "report" and if you click that, it alerts admin. Don't worry, they will get the spammer. Just do NOT post a reply to the spam message, or it traps the spam headline and your post in the forum forever, and a lot of those make the forums look really bad. (A lot of Hub users haven't quite grasped this concept yet so do your best not to add to the problem)

Your Hub Dashboard is the statistics page that you see when you go to http://hubpages.com/my/hubs

Traffic Indicators - these are meant to be very general indicators of traffic trends. They show the simple ebb and flow of traffic and are going to appear and fluctuate regularly. If you want more detailed info, you will need to use Google Analytics to drill down and analyze the traffic for specific Hubs.

• Traffic Rising - this little red triangle means that general traffic trends on that Hub are up. For a Hub that doesn't get any or only get a few views, just a handful of new views can cause this to appear.
• Traffic Falling - this little blue triangle indicates that a recent traffic peak for that Hub is now dropping off.

Hub Status - The different colors of the Hub name will tell you the status of each individual Hub.

• Deleted - Bright blue with a line through the name means you've clicked on the delete button and you wish to get rid of this Hub. Once a delete button is clicked, the Hub will remain for about 24 hours and then it gets permanently deleted from the HubPages system. So you have a little while to change your mind, but once it's gone, HubPages won't be able to recover it so make sure you mean to really delete the Hub.
• Not Published - The pink name means that only you can see that Hub and it's not been published yet for the general viewing public. These scores do not affect your overall score and you can take as long as you need to work on your Hub.
• Submitted for Publication - This is the status of a Hub which needs to be reviewed by the HubPages administrative team before it can be published. Most likely this Hub was flagged for some sort of violation that needed to be fixed before it could be published again.
• Needs Revision - The bold name and pink highlighting is the sign that something about your Hub violates HubPages Terms of Use. You will not be allowed to republish this Hub unless it is fixed and then approved by the HubPages team.

Hub Errors and Problems - These are technical flags for your Hubs. They are still live and viewable, but something's wrong.

• Broken Link - This black triangle with an exclamation point means that HubPages has found a broken link on your Hub. This can be a text link, or a video link. The Broken Link screen will show you all the broken links across all your Hubs simultaneously. If a Hub as too many broken links, it can be unpublished for revision by the HubPages team.
• Malicious Links - This green bug is a warning of a serious problem. It means that the site you are linking to has been identified as one which will attempt to take action against visitors. Most often this means trying to launch malware or some form of computer virus attack against anyone who clicks on the link. You want to get rid of these links as soon as you can! Find some other site which is a safe and reputable reference.
  
• Copyright Alert - this small red copyright symbol is not showed in the color key, but if you see it next to the name of one of your Hubs, it means that someone has stolen content from your Hub and published it elsewhere on the Internet. Going to the Hub itself will show you a screen that will give you the URL of the stolen content. It is up to you, the content owner, to defend your own copyrights.